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Windows 7: A very strange behaviour: Internet slows down during surfing

I am desperately seeking some help for a big problem in my PC with Windows 7 cable connected to an ADSL modem. Since a couple of days ago I noticed this very strange behaviour: just after a new system boot, I can surf the web as usual with my browser. But after a couple of visited pages (not more), internet slows down and becomes virtually impossible to use.

The only way to temporarily recover internet use is to reboot PC from scratch (disconnecting as user doesn't work). But even so, after a couple of click, internet becomes unusable.

I made many tests to try to understand more about the problem:

1) I tried with different browsers (Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox) but the progressive slowing down is always present (so it is not a problem of browser);

2) on another PC with Ubuntu connected to the same Digikom ADSL modem-router, internet works fine as usual (so it doesn't depend on my internet connection); I tried also to change cables and connections, with no result;

3) as I have a old image of my system, I reloaded it with Norton Ghost to see if the problem depend on some recently installed software or virus: but after loading previous image, the problem was again there as before;

4) I tried to reset the modem with the reset button, but that too didn't solve the problem (so it doesn't depend on modem);

5) I booted the PC from a Linux Disk and in this way internet is working OK (so it definitely depends on Windows 7).

That's all and I am completely puzzled. Even a little suggestion, some idea, everything would be greatly appreciated.

Hmm.. Restoring your system with a backup image didn't fix the situation, but you made the backup image before the onset of this problem, correct?
That is quite odd indeed. This leads me to believe that it is not Windows-specific, but as you've done some testing with a Linux system and some hardware process-of-elimination, there aren't a great deal of possibilities left.

My next suspicion would be that a third-party software, rather than Windows, is the cause of the problem (maybe a bug?). You should probably try booting in Safe Mode with Networking (F8 during boot) and see if it does any better. If so, then that determines Windows is not to blame.

Next, I would eliminate as many variables as possible. So anything non-essential in the startup folder, or startup items in msconfig, as well as misc tasks in the Task Scheduler - I would disable them all temporarily (mainly Internet applications, but I would also disable non-Internet apps that are scheduled to auto-update as well). This is going to make the next step a little easier.

Next, open the Resource Monitor as soon as Windows starts, preferably before you connect to the Internet. Wait for it to populate items under the Network tab. Now connect to the Internet, paying close attention to the graph view on the right of the Network tab, watching for a spike. There will also be a TCP Connections drop-down list and a Network Activity drop-down list, and these will provide interesting information as well. I would play the waiting game and see if something doesn't start bogging it down on its own - if not, try loading a page and coming back, repeating until you see a spike. Look through the Network Activity List to see who the culprit is. There is another drop-down list, I think its called Processes with Network Activity, which should show you the name of the program that is up to no good. This will shed some light on the situation. You may have to open the Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and find the process/program in that list in order to be able to open the file's containing folder from the context menu (the right-click menu)

This will help shed some light on the cause, and then we can help determine a remedy.

First of all I discovered that, while in safe mode, web surfing is going on at full speed. So it is not a Windows fault!

By the way pressing F8 doesn't work, I don't know why. To boot in safe mode I have to power off PC - not very recommendable I know - and then reboot: so I can see the startup menu with safe mode with networking option.

I looked for malwares scanning all my drives and found nothing.

I disabled all services except system ones and rebooted. Again web surfing is OK.

Disable startup programs, like which ones ? If web surfing is working ok now, this is a 3rd party causing weird behavior.

It's very possible recently about a few weeks ago my Anti Virus AVAST was at fault for me being unable to browse internet after a few hours even though windows network said I was connected to the internet with no problems. I would be force to restart.

First of all I discovered that, while in safe mode, web surfing is going on at full speed. So it is not a Windows fault!

By the way pressing F8 doesn't work, I don't know why. To boot in safe mode I have to power off PC - not very recommendable I know - and then reboot: so I can see the startup menu with safe mode with networking option.

I looked for malwares scanning all my drives and found nothing.

I disabled all services except system ones and rebooted. Again web surfing is OK.

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